Polarimetric apparatus



Feb. 9, "1943. R. s. ESTEY 2,310,623

' POLARIMETRIC APPARATUS- Filed March 2, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l 58 I Egg] 3 i n l Is a 7 s INVENTOR ROGER s. ESTEY Feb. g, $343., w R. s. ESTEY 'z mwm POLARIMETRIC APPARATUS Filed March 20 19450 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 POLAKIZEQ STR! P Ams PdLAm R we .5 Z?

INVENTOR Roam a. EENEW h ANALYZER A3415 *0 WHEN SCALE- READS Q? ZERO.

Patented Feb. 9, 1943 POLARIMETRIC APPARATUS Roger S. Estey, Buffalo, N. Y... assignor to Spencer Lens Company, Buffalo, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March. 2, 1940, Serial No. 321,845 !Claims. (CI. 88-14) This invention relates to polarimetric apparatus and has particular reference to a new and improved device for identifyin optically active substances and for measuring the amount of an optically active substance present by measuring therotation of the plane of polarization of the substance.

One of the objectsof the invention is to pro-- vide such a device which has been constructed to give greater convenience of operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device which has been constructed to give a more simplified construction,. and resultant economy of manufacture and yetgive greater accuracy in results.

Another object of the invention is to provide easier result reading mechanism for such a device wherein the results may be more quickly and easily ascertained.

Other Objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. Many changes in the details of construction, and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the exact details shown and described, as the preferred form has been shown only by way of illustration.

Referring to the drawings: 7 Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an instrument embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view an enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a front or face view. of the scale arrangement;

similar to Fig. 1, on

Fig. 4 is a-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of" Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 51s a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7. is a diagrammatic side view of the device showing the scales and polarizing arrangement; and H Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic front view of the instrument showing the effect of the polarizing arrangement.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the device shown embodying the invention comprises a base i on which is supported the upright 2.

The instrument which is supported on the upper end of said upright 2 comprises an eyepiece portion 3 and the casing 4, housing II and housing i9.

The eyepiece portion or member 3 contains the usual eyepiece lenses land 8.

The casing 4 is secured to the member II by t means of the threaded ring or collar 6 which has a tapered portion 9 engaging the tapered edge of the portion |0 of the housing member II.

In the member III is provided a pin l2, engaging in a slot in the casing 4 and acting as a stop to locate the casing which casing in turn locates the housing I!) in desired position.

The sample tube or holder I3 is preferably made of glass or the like having a reduced central portion and enlarged end portions 4 which are preferably provided with integral threads adapted to screw into the caps l5 which are preferably of Bakelite, etc., although they may be of metal or other material. The caps l5 have the flanges 6 adapted to hold glasses |1 over the openings in the ends of the enlarged portions H to prevent escape of the sample-in the tube. If desired, washers I8 may be provided between the flanges I6 and the glasses I'I to cushion the glasses against the pressure of the caps.

At the-outer extremity of the casing 4 is pro-.

vided the member l9 fitting thereover and provided with a locating pin 20 which fits in a slot in the casing 4 and acts as a stop to locate the cap l9 and casing 4 in definite predetermined relation with each other and with the housing member The member I9 is provided with the polarizing members 2| and 22. The polarizing member 2| is formed of a disc of sheet polarizing material now commercially known as Polaroid." This disc 2| hasthe axis of the light polarizing material adjusted to a desired orientation with respect to polarizing member 22.

The polarizing member 22 is preferably formed of a strip of Polaroid 23, as shown in Fig. 7 having a width substantially less than the width of the disc 2|. 'For convenience the optical axis .of said light polarizing material isparallel to v p the length of the strip.

The strip 22 is preferably mounted in the cap IS in such av manner that its long direction is vertical.

The polarizing members 2| and 22 are spaced apart longitudinally.

In the end of the cap I9 is the filter holder. 24 which is threadedly connected to said cap l9 and which comprises a cell containing one or more colored filters shown as 25 and 26 adapted to be limicrons By adjusting the color and the thickness of these components the light transmitted.

by the filter desired wave-length as for example 589- millimicrons.

With the above arrangement of orange and blue filter components it has been found much easier to adjust the transmission of the instrument to desired wave length than has been possible with prior art devices.

In the analyzer housing l l is provided the Polaroid" analyzing member 21 which has the axis of said light polarizing material oriented in a preferred manner with reference to the scale 4| and the polarizing members 2! and 22. The housing II also contains the telescope objective lens 28.

The lens 28 in cooperation with the eyepiecelenses 1 and 8 forms a telescope for viewing the strip 23 against the background formed by polarizer 2| by means of light rays passing through the tube l3. The strip 23 is longitudinally spaced with respect to the element 2| to permit the edges of the strip to be brought into sharp focus without interference from the member 2 I The dial 29 is secured to the gear member-30 by a screw or the like 3|. This member 30 has the extension-'44 having a tapered bearing surface adapted to engage the tapered bearing surface on the interior of the member M. It will thus be appere'ht that by rotation of the member can'be made equivalent to light of a be moved back and forth to desired adjusted position to prevent light from the light source 38 from entering the eye of the operator during use of the instrument.

This is particularly important in view of the fact that the dials are read against the light.

It will be apparent that with the form of the member shown that because of the combination of the worm gear and the cone bearing there has been provided a construction which is much simpler, economical and much less liable to be come out of order than prior art devices.

With my arrangement involving the coarse scale on the dial 29 and the fine scale on the drum 33 it is much easier to read the results of the test and does not require special training of the operato'r as is necessary with prior art constructions.

The desired construction of the light polarizing arrangement is that there be a sheet of light polarizing material covering the whole field and a strip or other shape piece of light polarizing material covering a portion of the field.

One of the polarizing elements should preferably cover the whole field while the second element may have cut-outs in desired pattern. The disposition of the two pieces, including size and shape, is such that parts of the field are covered with one layer and other parts covered with two layers of said light polarizing material.

Alternatively the polarizing elements 2! and 22 may each comprise structures having a cutout pattern, the pattern on one being exactly complementary to the pattern on the other and cooperating to produce a result as though the field were covered with one and only one thickness or layer of sheet polarizing material, the orientation of the axis however being different in differ- 30, the dial 29 will also rotate as will the analy'zer 21.

The gear 30 is adapted to be rotated by turning the tube 3 when the worm gear 32 is not engaged. Said worm gear 32 is on a shaft having the fine adjustment knob 33 and is adapted to be held in engagement with the gear 30 by the spring member 34, a lip on which is secured at 35.

The worm and shaft are held in a bearing 4? by means of a pivot 46. The spring 34 simultaneously holds the worm gear 32 in engagement with the worm gear 30 and holds the bearing 4'? in definite relation to the pivot it.

The worm and shaft are so constructed that by pushing the end 36 downward the worm. 32 is dis-= engaged from the worm gear 33 and the gear 33 is adapted to be rotated in fast motion by rotating the tube 3 until the approximate angular position for making the measurement is reached and then the end 36 is pushed upwards rotating the worm and shaft about the pivot 46 and then by turning the knob 33 theexact measurement .will be shown by the indications on the knob in cooperation with the coarser indications on the dial 29. a

In the use of the instrument check measurements are usually made at an angle of 180 degrees removed from the original measurement. Movement into the check measuring position is facilitated by disengaging the worm 32 and rotating the gear 30 by turning the tube 3 as just described.

0n the exterior of the casing 4 is the light shield 31 held thereon by friction and which may ent parts of the field.

The functioning of the instrument is determined by the mutualangular relationships between the sheet 26 and strip 23 and analyzer sheet 21. For convenience I prefer to orient the optical axis of the polarizing strip 23 parallel to the long dimension of the strip and mount the strip in the instrument with its long dimension vertical. The orientation of the polarizing sheet 2i may have any value with respect to the strip 23, thereby affecting the sensitivity of the instrument. I prefer to set the axis of sheet '26 at an angle of approximately 20 degrees with respect to the axis of strip 23 as shown in Fig. '7. When no sample is in the holder Hi the analyzer containing the analyzer sheet 2? can be rotated to a position such that the three parts of the field shown at 22 in Fig. '7 are equally dark. Under these circumstances the optical axis of the analyzer 2'1? will be approximately degrees to the vertical and the coarse and fine scales 29 and 33 will read either 0 degrees or degrees.

The equality of darkness just mentioned occurs when the optical axis of the analyzer 2i substan= tially bisects the obtuse angle between the strip axis and polarizer axis as shown in Fig. 8.

The smaller the acute angle between the axes of elements 2| and 23, the greater the accuracy of the measurement but the less light will be transmitted, It has been found that by melting the angle 20 the best compromise between light transmission and accuracy of measurement will be obtained.

It will be seen that when the light polarizing and analyzing means are arranged as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, the scales will all read (ii.

In the dial 29 is provided a slot 39 in which the screw 3i may be moved to po'sitivelyline up the indications on the dial and the indication mark 40 on the edge of the housing II. The dial 29 and knob 33 carry suitable indication marks M ting the dial 29 to and setting the field of view so that the three portions are equally dark by field andthe other of said members being a strip member of said sheet polarizing material covering only a central portion of the field, the axis of polarization of the polarizing member covering only a portion of the field being disposed at an acute angle with respect to the axis of polarization of the adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field with said acute angle I A being such as to obtain substantially the greatest means of the knob 33. The scale reading on the knob 33 is the 0 reading for the instrument.

The sample, customarily in the form of a transparent fluid, is introduced in the holder M. The

telescope eyepiece is readjusted to bring the edges of the strip 23 into focus and the analyzer it is rotated until the field of View is again uniformly dark.

The new angular position is determined from the indications on the dial 29 and knob The difierence between this angle and the 0 angle is the measure of the optical rotation of the samp From the above it will be seen that I have pro vided simple, efiicient and economical means for carrying out all of the objects of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, means for supporting an optical system and for supporting a specimen holder in substantial optical alignment with said optical system, said optical system including observing means, an analyzer consisting essentially of a relatively thin sheet of light polarizing material supported for rotary movement between the specimen holder and the observing means, and a light polarizer unit in substantial optical alignment with the specimen holder on the side thereof opposite the analyzer, said light polarizer unit consisting of two members of sheet polarizing material, one of said members of said sheet polarizing material covering the entire field and the other member of said sheet polarizing material covering only a central portion of the field, the axis of polarization of the polarizin member covering only a portion of the field being disposed at an acute angle with respect to the axis of polarization of the adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field with said acute, angle being such as to obtain substantially the greatest sensitivity and accuracy of test and yet not reduce the transmitted light below an efiicient intensity, with said angular dispositions of the axes of polarization of said polarizing member covering only a portion of the field and said adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field being in known fixed relation with each other for aiding in determining the initial setting of the axis of the analyzer.

2. In a device of the character described, means for supporting an optical system and for supporting a specimen holder in substantial optical alignment with said optical system, said optical system including observing means, an analyzer consisting essentially of a relatively thin sheet of light polarizing material supported for rotary movement between the specimen holder and the observing means, and a light polarizer unit in substantial optical alignment with the specimen holder on the side thereof opposite the'analyzer, said polarizer unit consisting of two members of sheet polarizing material, one of said members of tensity, with said angular dispositions of the axes sensitivity and accuracy of test and yet not reduce the transmitted light below an emcient intensity, with said angular dispositions of the axes of polarization of said polarizing member covering only a portion of the field and said adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field being in knownfixed relation with each other for aiding in determining the initial setting of the axis of the analyzer.

3. In a device of the character described, means for supporting an optical system and for supporting a specimen holder in substantial optical alignment with said optical system, said optical system including observing means, an analyzer consisting essentially of a relatively thin sheet of light polarizing material supported for rotary movement between the specimen holder and the observing means, and. a light polarizer unit in substantial optical alignment with the specimen holder on the side thereof opposite the-analyzer, said light polarizer unit consisting oi? two members of sheet polarizing material, one of said members of said sheet polarizing material covering the entire field and the other member of said sheet polarizing maerial covering only a central portion of the field, the axis of polarization of the polarizing member covering only a portion of the field being disposed at an angle of approximately 20 degrees with respect to the axis of polarization of the adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field with said angle being such as to obtain substantially the greatest sensitivity and accuracy of test and yet not reduce the transmitted light below an emcient in of polarizatoin of said polarizing member cover-= ing only a portion of the field and said adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field being in known fixed relation with each other for aiding in determining the initial setting of the axis of the analyzer.

4. In a device or" the character described, means for supporting an optical system and for supporting a specimen holder in substantial optical alignment with said optical system, said optical system including observing means, an analyzer consisting essentially of a relatively thin sheet of light polarizing material supported for rotary movement between the specimen holder and the said sheet polarizing material covering the entire observing means, and a light polarizer unit'in substantial optical alignment with the specimen holder on the side thereof opposite the analyzer, said polarizer unit consisting of two members of sheet polarizing material, one of said members of sheet polarizing material covering the entire field and the other of said members being a strip member of said sheet polarizing material covering only a central portion of the field, the axis of polarization of the polarizing member covering only a portion of the field being disposed at an angle or approximately 20 degrees with respect.

to the axis of polarization of the adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field with said angle being such as to obtain substantially the greatest sensitivity and accuracy of test and yet not reduce the transmitted light below an efiicient intensity, with said angular dispositions of the axes of polarization oi! said polarizing member covering only a portion of the field and said adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field being in known fixed relation with each other for aiding in determining .the initial setting of the axis of the analyzer.

5. In a device of the character described, means for supporting an optical system and for supporting a specimen holder in substantial optical alignment with said optical system, said optical system including observing means, an analyzer between the specimen holder and the observing means, and a light polarizer unit in substantial optical alignment with the specimen holder on the side thereof opposite the analyzer, said light polarizer unit consisting of two membersoi sheet polarizing material, one of said members of said sheet polarizing material covering the entire field and the other member of said sheet polarizing material covering only a portion of the field and leaving portions exposed on the opposed sides thereof and said member covering only a portion of the field extending at least to the center of the field, the axis of polarization of said polarizing member covering only a portion of the field being disposed at an acute angle with respect to the axis of polarization of the adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field with said acute angle being such as to obtain substantially the greatest sensitivity and accuracy of test and yet not reduce the transmitted light below an eflicient intensity, with said angular dispositions of the axes of polarization of said polarizing member covering only a portion of the field and said adjacent polarizing member covering the entire field being in known relation with each other for aiding in determining the initial setting of the axis of the analyzer.

ROGER S. ES'I'EY. 

